Wellness in Interiors
Designing Spaces for how we want to live
Wellness is becoming one of the defining influences on contemporary interior design. It is shaping the way spaces are conceived, planned and experienced, from lighting and materials to air quality, movement, and recovery. For interior designers, it presents an interesting opportunity to look beyond aesthetics and consider how the environments we create can support the way people live.
Historically, the definition of wellness within luxury residential interiors would be fitness centres, spas, swimming pools, whereas now it is about creating well spaces. Places where wellbeing is considered from the beginning, worked into the design and experienced in everyday life. It is an entire environment designed around living better for longer.
Two projects in New York illustrate this shift particularly well: Atria Health Institute at One High Line and our own 43 Bleecker project in NoHo. Although different in scale, both Atria and 43 Bleecker reflect a growing understanding that wellness is increasingly integrated into the way people live. Buyers are looking beyond the traditional measures of residential luxury, and considering specialist services, advanced technologies, recovery and relaxation.
The new language of luxury
Atria Health Institute at One High Line is an example of this. The mixed-use development has leased its five story commercial space to Atria, bringing its advanced health and longevity services into a luxury residential environment.
One High Lines’s residences are already positioned at the top end of the New York market, so making the decision to dedicate such a large space to a healthcare facilitiy is quite significant. Memberships at Atria range from around $20,000 to $75,000 per year so there is a financial exclusivity to use such facilities. Offerings include body MRI’s, genetic screening and advanced heart imaging, alongisde nutrition, lifestyle optimisation and compassionate ongoing care. These services position preventative health as a new category of luxury, appealing to affluent individuals.
This new era of luxury, which places less emphasis on material possessions and greater value on the ability to feel good and live well, presents an interesting shift in how we define the quality of life.
43 Bleecker Street
At our project in NoHo, this approach is reflected in a combination of dedicated wellness amenities and thoughtful touches within the residences themselves. Developed by Caedes Group in collaboration with the Erin Boisson Aries Team at Douglas Elliman, 43 Bleecker comprises an exclusive collection of 11 apartments within a landmarked 1896 building, bringing together historic character, contemporary design and a considered approach to wellbeing.
The luxury six story development places wellness at the heart of modern living through a dedicated floor and fitness centre, including Technogym equipment, Pilates and yoga spaces, a sauna and steam room, ice baths, hydromassage, red light therapy and Somadome meditation rooms. Somadome is a 20-minute technology enabled meditation pod that combines colour and light therapy and energy medicine to induce rapid relaxation and mental clarity. This represents a considerable investment in residents wellbeing, bringing an otherwise specialist meditation experience directly to the reseidents fingertips.
Inside the 11 condominium units, there will be integrated air and water filtration systems as part of its standard build out and a lucky few will have private saunas in the primary bathrooms. The result of the above is a rare trifecta for downtown Manhattan, 19th century architecture, contemporary design by Rigby & Rigby and an uncompromising commitment to long term wellness and vitality.
Visuals created by our in-house 3D visualisation team
